Though
the Op. 3 Concerti Grossi are vintage Handel, it is unlikely
that he took an active role in their publication. In 1734,
when they appeared in print, their publisher, John Walsh,
was essentially still producing pirate editions of Handel’s
works. During this period, Handel was developing more of
an interest in the non-operatic side of his career. His
music in this sphere was gaining wider exposure and Handel
- who always had an eye to the main chance - may have seen
this as a way of compensating for the problems in his operatic
career. He took an active role in Walsh’s next publication,
the Op. 4 Organ Concerti. Handel probably did not choose
Walsh as his official publisher; rather he tacitly recognised
Walsh’s pre-eminent position as the most successful pirate
music publisher of his works. In Georgian England, copyright
protection for composers was rather limited and not very
well enforced.

The
Concerti Grossi Op. 3 are rather a mixed bag of pieces
from various parts of Handel’s career. Concerto Grosso
no. 1 may have been composed in Hanover. Its scoring includes
two viola range parts in different clefs, something that
links them to works by Venturini, a leading Hanoverian
court musician. The attractive 2nd concerto
was probably written for the orchestra at the Haymarket
theatre in 1718/19 and uses movements from one version
of the overture to the Brockes Passion. Concertos 3 and
5 were both arranged from music that Handel originally
wrote for the anthems for Cannons, the home of the Duke
of Chandos (the so-called 'Chandos Anthems'). The first
two movements of no. 3 are arranged from this source and
the last movement is based on a keyboard fugue from the
same period in an arrangement that may not even be Handel's.
Concerto No. 5 is simply taken bodily from one of the Cannons’ manuscripts
where it is called a sonata. No. 4 was originally the second
overture to the opera Amadigi, performed in 1716. In the
very first edition of the work, this concerto was replaced
by another in the same key, of unknown provenance. This
was soon corrected and all Walsh’s later editions of the
concerto include the familiar one. But the most problematic
concerto is the last, where a single movement taken from
a three movement concerto is attached to a second movement
based on an organ concerto. Handel had split the first
movement off from its siblings when he used it in 'Ottone'.
This confusion of movements on Walsh’s part probably reflects
Handel’s partial disengagement from the production of the
publication. Walsh must have had access to Handel to get
the requisite copies of the pieces, but Handel certainly
did not oversee the results.

The
first thing that struck me on listening to this re-issue
of George Malcolm’s 1978 recording was the rather dated
quality of the sound, it does not come over as a 1970s
recording. Never having heard the original I am unclear
as to whether the original recording or the re-mastering
caused this. Granted the performance style is a little
old-fashioned, but you cannot reasonably expect modern
period-aware performance. Malcolm was in fact very influential
in his pioneering of performance of music of this period.

The
strings are crisp and well articulated, giving the music
a lively definition; but they produce a more solid sound
than more modern groups. This is mitigated by the superb
quality of the oboe playing. In fact, sometimes the oboes
seem a little over-spotlit and the strings lack prominence.
This might be an attempt at solving the balance problems
that can occur when playing this repertoire with a modern
orchestra. But in movements like the Largo from the Concerto
Grosso no. 2, the solo cellos are given nowhere like enough
prominence.

More
surprisingly, given Malcolm’s expertise as a harpsichordist,
the harpsichord sounds a little under-nourished. Again
this can often be a problem with modern instruments, though
some groups do solve the problem and provide a harpsichord
with a strong enough sound.

Malcolm’s
speeds are on the steady side, though they are certainly
not over-slow. The orchestra responds well and in many
ways this is an attractive modern instrument account of
the pieces. What I miss, though, is the sense of joie
de vivre that groups such as Tafelmusik can bring to
this repertoire.

There
are not too many modern instrument performances of these
concertos currently in the repertoire and this one has
been re-issued at an attractive price. So if in doubt,
do try it.

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